Shipping companies to pause all container traffic through Suez Canal after Red Sea attack

Edinburgh/London: Global shipping companies have halted journeys through the Red Sea because of the threat of attacks by Yemeni rebels, in moves that could disrupt vital trade through the Suez Canal.

Swiss-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co, the world's biggest container shipping company, will stop using the Suez Canal after an attack on one of its ships, it said in a statement on Saturday.

MSC said it would reroute some services around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa's southern tip, adding days to the sailing times of vessels booked to transit the Suez Canal. 

AP Moller-Maersk, which operates the world’s second-largest container shipping fleet, said it had instructed all vessels due to pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait to “pause their journey until further notice”.

The strategically important strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, runs past Yemen and there have been more than 10 attacks on ships in the area by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

“We are deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” said Maersk, adding that the attacks on commercial vessels posed a “significant threat” to crews.

Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodities traders, on Friday said it was “taking additional precautions” for its owned and chartered vessels.

The attacks risk disrupting the global supply chains that pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the waterway that accounts for 30 per cent of all container ship traffic and is a vital conduit for crude oil shipments.

German company Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest container shipping group, said it was “pausing all container ship traffic through the Red Sea” until Monday.

Its announcement came after one of its container ships, the Al Jasrah, was attacked while sailing close to the Yemen coast on Friday.

Maersk also revealed a “near miss” attempted attack by the Houthi rebels on its ship Mærsk Gibraltar a day earlier.

Henning Gloystein, a director at consultancy Eurasia Group, said such decisions would add “thousands” of miles of travel to trade between Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.

In a memo to customers, Maersk Tankers, a separate group that operates one of the world’s largest product tanker fleets, also cited the “rapidly escalating” security situation. It said its tankers travelling between Asia and Europe would now have to consider diverting via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the danger area.

Shipowners this month have called for protection for maritime routes in the region and the Pentagon has said a US warship also came under attack off the Yemeni coast.

The US is expected to make an announcement in the coming days about setting up a task force to ensure the safe passage of ships in the Red Sea.

US national security spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said Washington was discussing with a “range of partners” to ensure the “free flow of commerce through a vital checkpoint and vital body of water”.

The Houthi rebels, who have controlled large parts of Yemen since 2014, have threatened to target any vessels heading to Israeli ports, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Marco Forgione, director-general at the Institute of Export & International Trade, a professional body providing support to business, said the developments “could not come at a more difficult time for global supply chains”.

Drought was causing severe shipping delays through the Panama Canal, he said.

“This impacts every link in the supply chain, from producer right down to end user, and will only increase the chances of critical products not making their destinations in time for Christmas,” said Forgione of the companies’ decisions. “All eyes now will be on other shipping firms to see if they follow suit.”